{"id":317202,"date":"2017-05-08T06:10:29","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T06:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=317202"},"modified":"2017-05-08T06:10:29","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T06:10:29","slug":"north-korea-detains-us-citizen-kim-hak-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=317202","title":{"rendered":"North Korea &#8216;detains US citizen Kim Hak-song&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">North Korea says it has detained a US citizen on suspicion of &#8220;hostile acts&#8221; against the state.<\/p>\n<p>Kim Hak-song worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) and was held on 6 May, state-run news agency KCNA said.<\/p>\n<p>Three other US citizens are currently held in North Korea, including Kim Sang-duck, who had taught at PUST.<\/p>\n<p>The US has in the past accused North Korea of detaining its citizens to use them as pawns.<\/p>\n<p>KCNA said that &#8220;a relevant institution&#8221; was &#8220;conducting [a] detailed investigation&#8221; into Kim Hak-song&#8217;s alleged crimes.<\/p>\n<p>It gave no further details.<\/p>\n<p>A State Department official said Washington was &#8220;aware of reports that a US citizen was detained in North Korea&#8221;, adding it would liaise with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which helps look after US interests in North Korea.<\/p>\n<p>Kim Hak-song had previously described himself as a Christian missionary who intended to start an experimental farm at PUST, Reuters news agency reported, citing an online post by Mr Kim.<\/p>\n<p>PUST is a university that mostly teaches the children of North Korea&#8217;s elite.<\/p>\n<p>It was founded in 2010 by a Korean-American Christian entrepreneur, with much of the costs funded by US and South Korea Christian charities.<\/p>\n<p>Several foreign lecturers are thought to teach at the university.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_317203\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-317203\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-317203\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Kim-Dong-chul.jpg\" alt=\"Another US citizen, Kim Dong-chul, was sentenced to 10 years' hard labour last year\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-317203\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another US citizen, Kim Dong-chul, was sentenced to 10 years&#8217; hard labour last year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The detention comes amid heightened tensions between North Korea and the US.<\/p>\n<p>Pyongyang has threatened to carry out a new nuclear test &#8211; while the US has sent a warship to the region and vowed to stop the North from developing nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, North Korea accused US and South Korean agents of plotting to kill its Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n<p>The US and South Korean governments did not comment on the allegations, but experts were sceptical about the claim.<\/p>\n<p>Kim Hak-song&#8217;s arrest makes him the fourth US citizen to be held by Pyongyang.<\/p>\n<p>The other US detainees are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Kim Sang-duck, a lecturer who taught at PUST and was detained in April for allegedly attempting to &#8220;overturn&#8221; the government. South Korean media said he was 55 and had been involved in humanitarian work in the North<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Kim Dong-chul, 62, who was sentenced to 10 years&#8217; hard labour for spying last year.<\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">Student Otto Warmbier, 22, who was sentenced to 15 years&#8217; hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea says it has detained a US citizen on suspicion of &#8220;hostile acts&#8221; against the state. Kim Hak-song worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) and was held on 6 May, state-run news agency KCNA said. Three other US citizens are currently held in North Korea, including Kim Sang-duck, who had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[159,160,6480],"class_list":["post-317202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-north-korea","tag-us-citizen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}